The same week I finally got good sharpening stones for my hand plane I also learned about the importance of grain direction in paper and book board when making books. The obvious and understandable overlap between woodworking and book making in how they talk about grain direction of natural fibers forced this idea in my head that I eventually made a handful of months later.

Taking what are otherwise very delicate shavings—the waste by product of using the hand plane—and turning them into something durable and strong that protects the pages of a book was one of my favorite aspects of this project.

This book used shavings from the following woods from left to right, top to bottom

• unknown, wenge, cherry, maple

• unknown

• padauk hickory, purple heart, white oak